Introduction and Guidance

Curriculum for science in the state of Tennessee are divided into twelve separate stands. These strands provide guidance for teachers to follow as they usher students through the public school system. This hands-on, inquiry unit for middle school students is based on two of these conceptual strands. They are:

Conceptual Strand 10Various forms of energy are constantly being transformed into other types without any net loss of energy from the system.

Conceptual Strand 12Everything in the universe exerts a gravitational force on everything else; there is an interplay between magnetic fields and electrical currents. The unit will focus on the “interplay between magnetic fields and electrical currents” with the specific intend of developing a familiarity with simple circuits. The second half of the unit will tie both strands together, allowing the students to apply the concepts of magnetic fields and the law of conservation of energy to working devices that transforming energy from one form to another.

Teaching MethodsHands-on, lab activities are the basis for this entire unit. Many of the lessons will begin with an inquiry lab that will be followed by a short period of direct instruction. The inquiry period should allow the students to develop a personal understanding of the concepts before the teacher elaborates on the subject. Each activity will be done in groups. Some attempt should be made to make sure each group has special/visual learner and kinesthetic learner in each group. Having these types of learners in each group should allow them to complete the task in a timely manner.

Conclusions The lessons that have been produced for this unit can be immediately implemented in the classroom. The unit is flexible enough that teachers can plan for the use of all or part of the unit to facilitate the constructivist learning process in their classrooms. The unit will be readily available to all teachers that are part of the Knox County Schools Science Intranet group. The materials will be posted on the groups web page so all the members will access to them. In addition to having the materials posted on the Knox County Schools Science Intranet, there are plans to have a kit prepared with the materials needed to implement the hands on activities that can be barrowed by different teachers throughout the system. The kit will contain all the reusable materials needed to perform the experiments. Teachers using the kits will need to provide some expendable materials, but these should be fairly inexpensive. Most of the expendable materials needed could be donated or recovered from a recycling stream.

Miller CallawayCenter for Ultra-wide-area Resilient Electrical Energy Transmission Networks (CURENT)

Knoxville, TN

References usedAllen, K. Z., Berg, L. R., Fronk, R. H., Hemenway,

M. K., Kaska, K., Lamb, W. G., … Summerlin, L. (2010). Chapter 14: Electricity. Tennessee Grade 6 Holt Science and Technology, 414 - 441.

 Balloons and Static Electricity. University of

Colorado. PhET Interactive Simulations, 2011. Web. 11 July 2012. <http://phet.colorado.edu>.

 Build an electric motor. Museum of Science and

Industry, Chicago, 2012. Web. 16 July 2012. < http://www.msichicago.org/education/educator-resources/classroom-activities/educator-info/activities/build-an-electric-motor/>.

 Ultra-simple Electric Generator. Science Hobbyist.

William Beaty, 1996. Web. 16 July 2012. < http://amasci.com/amateur/coilgen.html>

 Understanding Lightning.  Prod. Discovery

Education.  Discovery Education, 2004. Discovery Education. Web. 11 July 2012. <http://www.discoveryeducation.com/>.

For further informationPlease contact miller.callaway@knoxschools.org. More information on this and related projects can be obtained at curent.utk.edu

Inquiry-based unit on forces in nature for middle school students

Desired Results and MeasurementsThe purpose of this unit is to help middle school students increase their proficiency with regard to the two conceptual strands listed in the introductory section. The success of the program will rely on results produced by Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) that measures the results of students performance on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP).

TCAP is the standardized test taken by all Knox County students between grades 3 and 8. The results of the TCAP test are analyzed using TVAAS. TVAAS is a tool that gives feedback to school leaders and teachers on student progress and assesses the influence of schooling on that progress.

Acknowledgments: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy under Grant No. 1041877. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect

the views of the National Science Foundation.

LESSON 7UNDERSTANDING ELECTRIC GENERATORS

Build a simple generatorUnderstand how mechanical energy can be transferred into electric

energy.

LESSON 8UNDERSTANDING PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS

Analyze the critical angle needed for effect and efficient use of a PV cell or array.

Understand how mechanical energy can be transferred into electric energy.

LESSON 1MAGNETIC FORCE AND MANETIC FIELD INQUIRY LAB

Demonstrate an understanding of magnetic field, and magnetic force.Hypothesize on why a compass needle is affected by the electric field

surrounding a lightly charged electrical wire.

LESSON 2MOVING ELECTRONS

Identify what causes an object to become electrically charged and the effect that charge can have on another nearby object.

Differentiate between an electric conductor and an electric insulator.

LESSON 3SIMPLE CIRCUITS

Name the three essential parts of a circuit.Compare series circuits with parallel circuits.Hypothesize what type of circuit your house is wired with

Lessons and Learning Objectives

LESSON 4VOLTS, CURRENT & RESISTANCE

Describe electric current.Describe voltage and its relationship to electric current.Describe resistance and its relationship to electric current.

LESSON 5UNDERSTANDING CHEMICAL CELLS (BATTERIES)

Understand how chemical energy can be transferred into electrical energy.

LESSON 6UNDERSTANDING ELECTRIC MOTORS

Construct a simple electric motorIdentify the variables that may be changed to create a more effective

electric motorDemonstrate an Understand of how electrical energy can be

transformed into mechanical energy.

Lessons and Learning ObjectivesContinued